Life, the Universe, and Everything….

Spotting the Spot

Much to my surprise the Saturday night Public Night at the Observatory went very well indeed. The late afternoon skies were light to heavily clouded and I thought if we were lucky we'd have poor views of Jupiter and that's all. After sunset, however, the sky grew clear and steady. First visitors arrived at 7:30 — a full half-hour ahead of starting time — so as soon as I had the telescope uncovered and the dome open, we began. Early viewing of Jupiter was best and, for my first time ever (somewhat embarrassed to say) I saw the Great Red Spot. As the night progressed people came and went. I shared views of Jupiter, the Andromeda Galaxy, and the double cluster in Perseus. We took a break just before 8:30 to adjourn to the front yard to watch for a passage of the International Space Station. A group of about 20 of us watched as the brilliant star-like light of the ISS appeared through neighboring trees, moved in stately fashion west to east high over our heads, sinking and finally disappearing into Earth's shadow. The show took three or four minutes and was very popular amongst our visitors. The last of our 50 visitors left just after 10:00 PM as Jupiter sank behind the trees. Most memorable to me was that Red Spot sighting — not all that distinct but I'll always remember finally spotting the spot!

Note: The photo here came from the NOAA Web page describing Jupiter but fairly represents what I saw.

2 comments on “Spotting the Spot”

The International Space Station makes regular visible passes over these parts. This week, however, seems to be particularly busy! You can get a prediction table calculated to your location by visiting the site below. Enjoy! — JGhttp://www.spaceweather.com/flybys